The Hawk, the Stray, and the Would Be Romeo
by Anasazi Darkmoon
Summary: One shot. Black Hayate isn't the only East City stray Riza Hawkeye's managed to collect...but will the latest one be too much for her to handle?


_The Hawk, the Stray, and the Would-Be Romeo_

Riza Hawkeye sighed, stopping to let Black Hayate sniff at a random spot that caught his interest. She was grateful to start her vacation, but knew that things at Headquarters would probably fall apart without her there to keep Colonel Mustang in line. Suddenly, Black Hayate tugged at his leash, barking and whining as he strained to reach something in the alley that she could not see. "What is it, boy?" Riza asked, rather impatient to get home out of the cold, dark, and damp.

The little dog looked up at his mistress, then looked back into the alley and barked again, clearly wanting to investigate things further. Surprised, considering the fact that Black Hayate was normally well behaved, Hawkeye finally gave up, drew her gun, and followed him into the alley. They didn't go very far, however, when they came upon the thing the dog was so desperate to examine: a body lying on the ground near several splotches of blood. At first, Riza thought the person was dead, but then Black Hayate licked their face, drawing a muffled moan from them. She knew that she shouldn't move him, but considering how late it was, and how far away the nearest hospital, she also knew that he most likely would not last long enough for her to go for help. Her home, however, was close enough, _and_ it was warm and dry, which would do the poor man far more good than staying out in the cold. "Sir, please hang on!" she cried, putting away her firearm to help the man to his feet.

Some time later, she managed to drag the wounded man back to her apartment and helped him onto her couch; intending to call for medical assistance, but first, she needed to assess the extent of his injuries. Flipping on the nearest lamp, Riza let out a startled gasp as she finally noticed the man's white hair, brown skin, and X-shaped scar across his forehead. "Scar!" she shouted, stumbling backward and nearly falling.

In response to her yelp, Scar let out an unintelligible moan of pain, tossed restlessly for a moment, but didn't wake up. After taking a few deep breaths, she managed to calm down as much as one could, considering there was an Ishbalan serial killer in her house. Schooling her expression back into its usual calm mask, she warily returned to Scar's side. Quiet until this moment, Black Hayate looked up at the wounded Ishbalan, then up at Riza, and let out a small whimper of concern. "Don't worry, little one," she reassured the dog, "He won't be any trouble." _…I think…_

After digging out her first aid kit, she set it on the coffee table and started helping Scar out of his bloody jacket, hoping that he wouldn't wake up and start exploding everything in sight. When he did nothing other than let out another groan, she sighed with relief and then worked on removing his equally bloody shirt. Once that task was accomplished, Riza got a good look at the Ishbalan's injury. He had been shot, and the bullet that hit him was lodged in his left shoulder, but fortunately, not anywhere vital. "This isn't as bad as I first thought," she muttered to herself as she readied a pair of tweezers, "But the bullet needs to come out so it doesn't get any worse."

Hawkeye tugged on the bullet, and thankfully, it came out cleanly, although Scar did yell as if he were dying. Finally, his shrieks subsided, and she was able to clean and dress the wound with little difficulty. Satisfied that he no longer seemed to be in any immediate danger, Riza got up, intending to call some soldiers to come and retrieve him. Suddenly, his right hand shot out, catching her wrist in an unyielding grip. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, trying to break free as the Ishbalan struggled to sit up.

Scar blinked at her, his crimson eyes not quite focused, and in an almost childlike whisper, he said, "Mother?"

"Mother? What are you talking about? I'm not your…"

Riza was unable to finish her sentence, as the Ishbalan staggered to his feet, lurched forward a couple of steps, and then fell forward. She managed to catch him, but lost her own balance and they both fell to the floor, him on top of her. "Get off me!" she croaked, struggling to push his mostly dead weight off her.

"Mother, I missed you so much!" Scar whimpered, hugging her tightly with just his right arm, since his left was currently incapacitated. "Please don't go away again!"

Not knowing what else to do, Hawkeye gingerly wrapped her arms around her "attacker" and said, "I won't leave you, I promise."

The alchemist killer gave his "mother" a happy smile, and then planted a kiss on her forehead. Just then, the door flew open, and there stood Roy Mustang, a look of horror plastered on his now ghost-white face as the wrapped box he held tumbled from his limp fingers. "Colonel! This isn't what you think it is!" Riza cried, her face turning red as she looked up at her horrified superior. "It's all just a big misunderstanding!"

…

Eventually, Roy calmed down enough to move the now-sleeping Scar from on top of Riza, while she explained the events of the past few hours. "So you see, sir, I really had no choice," she concluded, handing Mustang a cup of coffee.

"Maybe not, but you took a terrible risk bringing him here!" he exclaimed, glaring at her. "What would you have done if he had been acting?" Suddenly, he set his coffee down, leaned forward, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Lieutenant…Riza…I don't know what I would do if I lost you…especially to him."

"Sir, I…" she stammered, surprised at Roy's behavior.

Before she could say anything else, however, he closed the gap between them and licked her across the face…

Riza Hawkeye's eyes snapped wide open as she sat bolt upright, dumping Black Hayate from his position on her chest. Looking around frantically, she realized that she was in her own bed, and that Colonel Mustang and Scar were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Hayate reared up on his hind legs and licked her chin again, apparently anxious to go out. Riza looked down at him, sighed, and said, "All right, I'll take you out, but we _are not_ exploring any alleys, you got that?"

**Author's Note:** Wasn't that a fun ending? It was my first attempt at writing Hawkeye, but I tried hard to keep her in character. I also noticed that Scar ends up with weird things happening to him in all my FMA stories...I don't mean anything by it, I swear! I love Scar! Shiruba Neko inspired/betaed this for me, so big props to her for all her help!


End file.
